“How did you know Vitaly Petrov and how were you able to train with him?” That's what most vaulter ask me when I go to competitions with my coach. First, let me introduce my coach, Vitaly Petrov. Who is Vitaly Petrov? If you type it in google, you’re probably going to see a racing driver of some sort. He is not that guy. He is 74 years (as of me writing this) old Ukrainian who lives in a small city down south of Italy. He coached both men and women Olympic record holders, current outdoor world record holder and multiple world champions under his wing. So how did I manage to train with arguably the greatest coach in Pole vault.
It started with a random text message from my athletic federation that Sergey Bubka is in town. I was supposed to have my vault session that day but when the “greatest to ever do it” suddenly is in the town, you just dropped everything and try to meet him. I was allowed to meet him thru the federation president and was supposed to be in and out after a photograph and an autographed jersey but then he started to ask me about pole vault and one thing led to another and maybe 1h had past just conversing about pole vault. It was probably the most focus I have been in a conversation in my life. Out of the blue he suddenly asks, “how high do you jump?”, I said 4.95m. He told me that the IAAF (world athletics now) have a scholarship program for athletes like me and if I jump 5 meters within the year he would personally endorse me to be in it. I was motivated AF. A few month later I set a new National Record and was officially qualified for the program and a few months more I was set to fly to the south of Italy to train for 90 days without knowing who would be coaching me.
Trip to Europe started, landed in Rome with poles around 9am CEST. Met the driver and rode for 2h then I was in the World Pole Vault Training Center. I was welcomed by the IAAF Camp Manager and we sorted the rooms then I started to look around the center. I was overwhelmed how beautiful the place is and how many world class athletes are there. Then a random old dude at my back said “Ciao bello!” and there I met my coach and now we have been working together for roughly 6 years and almost a meter away from where I was.
Photo By: Thiago Braz Da Silva